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You cannot view pictures by using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer in Windows XP

Article ID: 921048 - View products that this article applies to.

SYMPTOMS

When you try to view pictures by using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer in Microsoft Windows XP, the pictures are not displayed as expected. However, when you view the pictures by using Microsoft Paint, the pictures are displayed as expected.

Note Some of the picture thumbnails may not be displayed in Windows Explorer.

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CAUSE

This problem occurs if the Shimgvw.dll file is no longer registered.

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RESOLUTION

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ )

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

To resolve this problem, register the Shimgvw.dll file. To do this, follow these steps:

Log on to the computer as an administrator.
Click Start, click Run, type regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\shimgvw.dll, and then click OK.
When you receive a message that resembles the following, click OK:
DllRegisterServer in C:\Windows\System32\shimgvw.dll succeeded.
Close Windows Explorer, and then try to view the picture again.

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

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REFERENCES

For more information about problems when you try to view pictures in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

329270

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/329270/ )

You cannot view TIFF images using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer

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